‘Pike County Massacre’ suspect in court in Lexington

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ)- A man arrested Tuesday in Lexington is accused of involvement in the murder of eight people, in Pike County, Ohio.

It looks like that man is headed back to Ohio to face charges.

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In court Wednesday, George “Billy” Wagner III seemed almost unconcerned with the fact that he was being sent back to Ohio to face eight counts of aggravated murder, at one point even telling the judge he just wanted to get back to his home state.

Wagner is one of four people arrested for what’s known as the ‘Pike County Massacre’.

According to officials in Ohio, the Wagner’s killed eight members of the Rhoden family ‘execution-style’ in their home back in 2016.

Police say they believe the killings were motivated by a child custody dispute between the two families and was planned by the Wagner’s for months.

In court Wednesday, Wagner admitted to being wanted in the state of Ohio.

Ohio’s deputy attorney general was also in court and says he plans to get Wagner back to Ohio as soon as possible.

“We’ll be calling pike county sheriff reader and try to make arraignments as quickly as possible. It’s our intent to get him back to pike county so formal proceedings can occur there,” said Stephen Schumaker, Ohio deputy Attorney General for Law Enforcement.

The judge set a follow-up court date for December 7th.

That hearing is just a formality to make sure Wagner has been extradited back to Ohio by then.